1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure for storing a seat belt in a hinged seat of the type wherein a seat cushion and seat back are each so hingedly rotatable as to be subject to their respective forward displacements for transformation into a load-carrying platform or the like.
2. Description of Prior Art
As known well, the hinged seat is used mainly for a rear seat in an automobile because of its easy folding transformation into a load-carrying platform. Reference is made to FIGS. 1(A) to 1(C), in which such hinged seat is shown and it is seen that a seat cushion (124) is raised forwardly to an upright state and then a seat back (114) is laid down to a horizontal state, thus providing a space or platform for loading some articles or baggages thereon.
Like a front seat, a recent trend is for a seat belt to be also equipped in the rear seat of this hinged kind. The seat belt, in general, is formed by an upper belt with a tongue and a lower belt with a buckle, such that the tongue is removably engaged into the buckle for laying the seat belt on the body of an occupant on the seat and restraining it thereto for a safety purpose. FIGS. 1(A) to (C) show a conventional seat belt arrangement in the hinged seat, in which a lower belt (120) with a buckle (122) is at its base end fixed upon the floor (119) of an automobile.
According to this prior art, as in FIG. 1(A), when the hinged seat (101) is in a normal seat formation state, the lower seat belt (120) extends through the juncture between the seat back (114) and seat cushion (124) and the buckle (122) appears upon the seat cushion (124) for use such as to be engaged with a tongue of an upper seat belt (not shown). Then, with reference to FIG. 1(B), the seat (101) is transformed into a load-carrying platform by rotating upwardly the seat cushion (124) about the hinge point (125) firstly and then rotating forwardly the seat back (114) down onto the floor (119) about the hinge point (126). Here, the buckle (122) is pressed exceedingly by the seat back (114), with a much likelihood of the buckle (112) or the pressed surface of the seat back (114) being damaged or broken. What is worse, as in FIG. 1 (c), when returning those seat back and seat cushion (114)(124) to the foregoing normal states in the arrow direction, the buckle (122) is completely out of view beneath the seat cushion (124) and thus out of reach of the occupant for using the seat belt, which gives the occupant the trouble of seeking for and picking up the buckle (122), presenting an annoying drawback in using the seat belt.
To solve that problem, the Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 53-126226 suggests the provision of a seat belt storage container in the seat back, in which the lower seat belt with a buckle may be taken out from or stored in the storage container in order to be engaged with or disengaged from the tongue of upper seat belt. Thus, before folding the seat forwardly, the buckle is stored in the storage container so as to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks that the buckle is pressed badly or missed from view by the seat back.
However, in this prior art, the storage container is made of a hard material, such as a plastic. This results in giving a hard, objectional touch to the back of the occupant. Further, the storage container needs to be formed separately and when it is jointed to the seat back, a special sewing or jointing technique is required because the mouth portion of the storage container is to be sewn the corresponding portion of a covering member of the seat cushion. The costs in that respect are then higher. Moreover, the edge of the mouth portion of the storage container is exposed on the seat back, which results in giving an unpleasing touch to the occupant and also deteriorating the outer aesthetic appearance of the seat.